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New Objects on Hold
If you read the article in the last New Worlds Times about the new building objects
we are supposed to get soon, you may have noticed that nothing has changed yet.
We evidently jumped the gun on this one, folks! Among the factors delaying the
new objects:
- The programming team has been expanded and that takes a little while.
- Other exciting new changes are taking precedence (see related story under Version Control.)
- The object model has changed considerably and converting over will require a conversion of all existing property with the server down.
CONTENTS
(Note that most of these links won't start working until you load more
of this page.)
- New 'Bot spotted in AlphaWorld
- "Push Me" makes his debut, and disappears under suspicious circumstance.
- AlphaWorld finally gets a help file
- About time!
- Sleepy Hollow is relocating
- "No more land available," says Mayor Sleepy.
- About Our World
- More information than you probably wanted but possibly less than you need.
- Geek's Alphaworld Pages Have Moved
- Don Braithwaite's Suite of AlphaWorld Web Pages have moved to a new location, and been improved again!
- Under Construction
- Really cool stuff is being built all over the world, we can't keep up!
- AlphaWorld Doc and Errata Web Pages Move Again
- FTP has never been so busy.
- Classifieds
- Ads from our citizens.
- DatedMan Speaks
- Some words from the editor.
NEW 'BOT MAKES DEBUT
NET GUY DISCOVERS "PUSH ME"
Wednesday, October 15, 1995
Today Net Guy convinced our staff to investigate reports of a new robot. "Push Me" was hard to distinguish as a robot at first, he looked as human as the rest of us. But Net Guy pointed out that His name refreshed at very regular intervals, and did not have a colon after it. Then he proceeded to push the bot around all over the Ground Zero area.
Net Guy explains, "If you walk slowly 'through' him/her/it, then you can push it. Actually, it appears more like it is following you since you pass through before it responds. It also goes freely through walls and other solid objects."
According to Protagonist, Push Me is part of an ongoing effort to get more bots into AlphaWorld. Evidently robots are one of the most-requested objects, scoring consistently higher than even ponies and dogs.
Push Me was around for a few days and then mysteriously disappeared. Some citizens speculated that someone must have decided to take him home. Others talked about the possibility that other wild robots may exist in the world, and that they might possibly be trained as domestic servants.
SLEEPY HOLLOW IS RELOCATING
OVERCROWDING CITED AS REASON
Sunday, November 26, 1995
Today the New World Times received email from Mayor Sleepy of Sleepy Hollow. He tells us that he has closed down Sleepy Hollow. The area is saturated and the surrounding area has been built up too much to allow expansion.
Mayor Sleepy tells us that he has a new site in preparation now, which is much larger. Stay tuned to future issues of the New World Times for details as soon as the new site is fully prepared.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
There are so many absolutely cool things being built in AlphaWorld that we are at a total loss to try to bring them all to you here. Explore for yourselves and we guarantee you'll find more than you bargained for.
One hot site is Alpha Park, where building is starting to pick up. Alpha Park is an experiment with shared building, where several citizens share one avatar name and password so they can cooperate, building without encroachment. It starts at approximately 25S, 0E and extends south and east from there. The park is not even close to completion, but is already some outstanding construction there. Be aware that the entire park is built at least 40 meters up from ground level, so you won't see anything but bare grass and some supporting walls from the ground.
One builder who has gotten an early start in the Park is Laura, who built a beautiful marina, complete with a houseboat and restaurant.
Laura's restaurant
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Desi's Maze is almost done, and will be a showcase for some of the actions we'll be able
to attach to objects soon with the scripting language (see Version Control.)
ABOUT OUR WORLD
Installment #2: about Renderware objects
One of the most common questions we get here at the New World Times is "how do I make my own objects?" The answer is not simple.
To use an object in AlphaWorld, it must be registered by Worlds. So you can't just make an object and plop it into the world. Sometime soon we should have the ability to make new private worlds which can have whatever objects you like in them, but AlphaWorld objects must meet certain guidelines.
In order for objects to work with encroachment detection and collision detection, they must be no larger than 10 meters wide (see Installment #1 of this series). They must also be centered, which is important to know while building.
The rendering engine currently used by AlphaWorld is Renderware. You can find links to the Renderware home page and other information about creating Renderware objects from the AlphaWorld Docs and Errata page--just follow the link for prospective artists.
The biggest problem with making Renderware objects is that there is no real "front end" tool for making them. You can create objects using 3d Studio or other 3d rendering software and import it into a Renderware format, but much is lost in the translation.
Many of the objects in AlphaWorld were just typed in by hand, using the Renderware scripting language. If you look at the RWX files in the \AWORLD\MODELS directory using NOTEPAD or another text editor, you will see that many of the objects are actually pretty simple. For instance, let's look at ROOF41.RWX:
ModelBegin
ClumpBegin
Vertex -.2 0 -.2 * Each vertex defines a
Vertex .2 0 -.2 * corner in x y z coordinates,
Vertex .2 0 .2 * x=left/right, y=up/down, z=front/back
Vertex -.2 0 .2
Surface .5 .5 .1 * See the HELP file in the Artist's Download ZIP
Color .8 .8 .7 * red green and blue combine to form the color,
* close to pure white in this case
Quad 1 2 3 4 * define a rectangle with this color and surface,
* top of roof piece
Color 0 0 0 * change color to pure white/black grey (depends
* on SURFACE)
Quad 4 3 2 1 * make the rectangle for the bottom, counterclockwise.
ClumpEnd
ModelEnd
As you can see, each model starts with ModelBegin and ends with ModelEnd.
Within each model is one or more clumps. Most have only one but
some, such as AVATAR.RWX, have many.
The Renderware scripting language gets pretty complicated at times. One way to simplify the creation of AlphaWorld objects is to create them in 3D Studio or other commercial 3D rendering programs, and then import them to Renderware format using utilities provided by Renderware (also included in the Artists' Download File). However, this doesn't usually create objects that render well in AlphaWorld. You may also lose some attributes of the object, such as the "material" used in each surface.
You can change the appearance of objects in AlphaWorld by altering the RWX scripts in the MODELS directory. Alas, this will only affect the way you see the objects, and your altered objects will be overwritten with the next upgrade. However, the time is coming fairly soon when we will be able to make our own objects and put them in our own worlds! We'll try to explain more of how to create Renderware objects in this column and on the other web pages in the near future.
NEW WORLD TIMES MOVES AGAIN
FTP GROANS UNDER THE LOAD
Wednesday, October 22, 1995
Today all of the New World Times pages and the AlphaWorld FAQs migrated back to Synergy's (Dataman's) ISP. You may remember that we recently moved to the Worlds server when a hurricane in Georgia brought Netrunner down. Now we're back folks so update your links...for now anyway. Make sure to change your pointers since I cannot delete the old pages at present and they are now of historical value only.
This latest move was prompted by a snafu on the Worlds server where Dataman's permissions to update the NWT directory were removed. Rather than procrastinate even longer about putting out a new issue, we decided to bite the bullet and move over, at least for now.
"This kind of thing really is a lot of fun," quipped Dataman. "I just wish that I knew how to FTP directly between servers!"
VERSION CONTROL
NEW SCRIPTING COMMANDS ARE ON THE WAY
As you may have seen in our headline story, the upcoming changeover in models for building in AlphaWorld is taking a back seat for the moment. What is holding up the show is a very powerful set of scripting commands which can be attached to any object in AlpaWorld. At the risk of jumping the gun again, we will describe here some of the scripting commands which are being tested now.
In an upcoming verion, you will see "Destination" change to "Action" in the object description (what you see when you click on an object in AlphaWorld). Within this field you will be able to dictate a number of "behaviors" for the object.
More specifically, each object can have one or more triggers which each start one or more commands in motion. Triggers include:
- bump (bump into or move through the object)
- create (trigger commands when the object is created or changed, or when it comes into sight)
- activate (triggered when the user doubleclicks on the object with the mouse.)
The commands set in motion by these triggers include:
- solid (make object(s) solid or nonsolid)
- visible (make object(s) invisible or visible)
- name (create or change the name of an object so other commands can refer to it)
- url (send a message to netscape)
- sound (start playing a sound file)
Stay tuned to the AlphaWorld Docs and Errata page for more news about this powerful scripting language as it becomes available.
GEEK CHANGES SERVERS
DATABASE BACKENDS IMPROVE SERVICE
Be sure to list your residence and/or business locations in the Atlas so people can find you in AlphaWorld!
ALPHAWORLD GETS A HELP FILE
Kudos to Wolfe Schmidt, who describes his job as "tech writer and cacophony," who put together the help file. It covers most of the basics of dealing with AlphaWorld, and is much easier to navigate than the web pages!
CLASSIFIED ADS
Commercial ad space available here. Eventually we may actually charge for this so get it while it's virtual.
Enigma Expands The Adrenaline Vault
Because of popular demand The Adrenaline Vault has been expanded
and we have added more 3D action games ready for download. The
Adrenaline Vault, now located at 6N 1E, is a busy spot in AlphaWorld
where gamers from all over the world can chat about their favorite
3D action games and download the latest and best full playing
demos.
No puny adventure games here, just exhilarating adrenaline
action. Click once on any of the computer monitors to view the
game's name, file size and date released. To download a game,
simply launch and minimize your Netscape web browser and then
double-click on the monitor (game) of your choice. A download
session should open automatically. Check often as games are updated
weekly.
For comments or suggestions contact Enigma. You can reach
him by e-mail at: enigma@newworld.com
Editor's note: check out Enigma's Adrenaline Vault web page, it's great! Best viewed with Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
ALPHAWORLD'S FIRST PET STORE
The Pet Gourmet - AlphaWorld's first pet store! We sell puppies, kittens, pet food and supplies. Located at 1S 152W, stop by for a look or to play with our puppies.
Good Scents Company: Under Construction
The Good Scents Company, located at 627N, 2W has almost completed its construction of a Fragrance Resource Center. The center will have links to GSC's WWW pages that will allow database searches in the area of Essential Oils, Fragrances, Perfume Oils, Aromatherapy, Herbs & Spices, and Flavors. Information will be updated weekly, and of course all inquiries for items not found on the databases will receive our prompt attention.
There is a large amount of data to digest into WWW pages so this effort will be a continuous ongoing project. Construction should be completed by December 1, 1995.
Stop in and take a look at the world of Perfumery!
Bill Luebke, Perfumer
The Good Scents Company
YET ANOTHER MAZE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS
That
vacant lot less than 200 meters from ground
zero has finally been dozed over and a human-sized maze
erected. It's been advertised as "The only
thing to 'do' on Alpha" but the ads have recently been
pulled, pending several lawsuits... Nevertheless,
the wary visitor can get thouroghly lost for a reasonable
cost, then lounge out in the observation
tower at the center of the maze.
The entrance to the maze is located at 18N,15E. The management asks you to kindly refrain from flying or using 3rd person view, since knowing were you are ruins the fun. Chess piece guides have been provided at several points to help confused puzzlers find their way.
Forest H. Stroud
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neuroses
The Consummate Winsock Apps List
http://cwsapps.texas.net
Email to: Forrest H. Stroud
DATEDMAN SPEAKS
I have been devoting this space to a Q & A sort of thing, but have decided to move that to an updated FAQ page I am preparing. This FAQ will be linked to the main Alphaworld Docs and Errata Page shortly.
I try to keep these pages as free from personal errata as possible, but I have a gripe that I'd like to air. Part of this has to do with who I am, so let me introduce myself a little more formally first. I am Russell Freeland. Most of my living is made programming and writing about programming. I discovered AlphaWorld sometime last August and immediately fell in love. I've been waiting for shared VRs for a long time, you see.
After spending a great deal of time in AlphaWorld, I became the newspaper editor. I also help out with various and sundry other tasks, but this is my main job here. I have no authority in AlphaWorld, I am not interested in having any authority here, and my actions and/or opinions here are not those of Worlds.
Recently I have become the target of at least two people who think they have bones to pick with me. I don't agree with their positions, but I concur even less with the ways in which they have chosen to communicate them. Specifically, I have found mailboxes littering the landscape, placed on lots of land which are being built on by others who have nothing to do with any such dispute. I consider this to be irresponsible vandalism.
The best way to make yourself heard is by leaving a message or messages using the AlphaWorld Discussion Centre web page. If you want to complain about me, or about anything else for that matter, this is the place for it, rather than trashing the world with litter.
AlphaWorld is a trademark of Worlds, Inc. The opinions and other content of this paper do not necessarily reflect those of Worlds, and belong only to Dataman.